Kiev

Sunday 7th June

So it’s back to Eastern Europe after a gap of 18 months, during which time I’ve managed to become a political activist, market gardener and a winemaker. But it’s back to the real stuff – chemistry - now, advising government organisations on monitoring systems for rivers.

In the next four weeks I will visit Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and – a first for me – Moldova. But first I head to our HQ in Kiev, a city I know and love, having more or less lived there in 2006 and 2007.

There is always a frisson of excitement and nervousness as you start a new project. What if there’s nobody to meet me? Will I be stranded? Of course, all the angles had been discussed in the previous week and sure enough there was nothing to worry about. The first person I saw in the terminal at Kiev was the project’s trusty driver Victor.

Now Victor really is trusty, always on time, which is very unUkrainian of him. I was once told why he is punctual. In a previous job he worked for a top Oligarch. This is an open blog, so I had better not name names. He was once, as usual, late. He was taken to one side and told “Next time you’re late we will kill you.” He didn’t know whether they were joking or not, so he felt better be safe than sorry. So it’s our gain.

On to the office and more familiar faces. Steve the Team Leader. This is the fourth project I have worked for him. Kyryl and Natalya, office manager and country manager-last time I saw them they were our clients in the Environment Ministry, so they’ve come over to the other side. And hotshot Italian lawyer Marcella, who has written the textbook on water law. Once again, an old friend and colleague.

I once tried, on a train from Slavyansk to Rostov, to out-country Marcella. I counted 46 countries I had visited (it’s now 48). She got to 77 before getting bored with remembering them all.

I’m off to Georgia tomorrow, so I had just a quick walk round Kiev to remind me what I had missed. But everything was as before, except the prices and exchange rate. The euro now gets almost 11 Hryvna, up from seven 18 months ago. But prices have gone up accordingly, with our restaurant meal 50% more than last year.

One thing I noticed was a queue outside the Pinchuk art gallery. Victor Pinchuk is another oligarch, married to the daughter of a former president, and is one of the foremost collectors of modern art in the world. There is a Damien Hirst exhibition here, called Requiem. I can guess the material! Anyway, it was good to see a long queue of (mostly young) people waiting to get in. Another image; somebody looking in through the plate glass window of the gallery. But not a real person; unmistakably an Antony Gormley naked man.